Tipikyero

• I’ve rearranged the row order a little – the pre-approximant plosive rows were down the bottom, perhaps an afterthought. There were no labels at the sides or top, I’ve inferred what the rows and columns were meant to be.
• I’m not sure what the bordered items are meant to be. I suspect the full-lined ones mean “perhaps don’t include these” and the dotted-lined ones “these are of intermediate likeliness”. However some of the unbordered items are more unlikely than some of the bordered ones.
• <q/’> was probably meant to be a glottal stop rather than a uvular. It’s not clear whether the affricates are all meant to be truly homorganic, e.g. is <pf> [pɸ] or [pf]? The exact manner of articulation of <r> is unknown. Some spellings may disguise the true pronunciation, e.g. <jz> will be [ɟʝ], <cn> [cɲ], <gn> [gŋ] etc.
• No fricatives! Unless you count those in the affricates. It’s an inventory entirely of stops and sonorants.

Above the consonant table I drew a vowel quadrilateral, which I can't reproduce here. Basically the vowels are:

<i> [i], <e> [e], <ai> [ɛ], <a> [ɜ] or [ə], <ɑ> [ɐ] (low central unrounded), <au> /ɔ/, <u> /u/

Here I seem to be copying Hindustani in interpreting <ai> and <au> as /ɛ/ and /ɔ/. I’m also using two different A vowel letters for two different vowels. No idea what I was intending for the capital of <ɑ>. There is no record of diphthongs but some appear in later words.

This was followed by a text on phonotactics and word order and other grammatical points:

Consonants appear only at the start of a syllable: me-rɑ kyɑ-ro-di nyɑ-jhɑ-hɑu

Except when doubled (or nasally preceded): marubbɑ tikki kontɑwɑ ma-rub-bɑ tik-ki kon-tɑ-wɑ

Or some at the end of a word: na-gɑq bi-lɑw bo-lɑy kɑ-kɑ-cu-bɑn

Word order

Mostly the order is Subject-Verb-Object, but the verb can be displaced as long as the Subject appears before the Object. Indirect Objects normally follow Direct Objects. A Complement would come before a (Direct) Object. Attributes (adjectives and adverbs) normally precede nouns and verbs. Relative constructions are impossible and most adjuncts and prepositional phrases are turned to adverbs and adjectives. Grammar is simple but strict, however there are many short cuts and contractions.

Before a verb a noun is the Subject; after it is the direct object; after the direct object it is the indirect object; before another noun it [is] a possessor or recipient (or in apposition, etc.). There are no real plurals. There are no tenses except a distinction between active & passive, and an imperative/subjunctive form. Participles are formed by affixes. Other affixes are used for changes of meaning, status, etc.

Notes:

• I seem to have been inconsistent with my A letters, e.g. is “hɑu” in “nyɑ-jhɑ-hɑu” the “au” vowel in the /ɔ/ position on the quadrilateral? Or is it meant to be a diphthong, made of <ɑ> [ɐ] and <u> [u]? I also don’t seem to be using <a> [ɜ] very much.

• I don’t clarify which consonants can be word-final. Presumably sonorants and the glottal stop, or maybe nasals, central approximants and the glottal stop. Also, why would they be word-final but not coda medially?

• The grammar description is rather vague and mysterious, and based on terminological mistakes. Why should relative constructions be impossible? What does “turned to adverbs and adjectives” mean? What did I mean by “a complement would come before a (direct) object”? By “imperative/subjunctive” I probably meant “imperative/optative”. “Attributes” should really be “modifiers”.

On its own in another notebook I wrote:

Tipikyero – ti-pi-kçe-ɾo